"And one man in his time plays many parts..." As You Like It, (II.vii.142)

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

FlashForward - "A561984"

Hello all. I hope my American compatriots had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, and that my international readers had a great....Thursday or jueves or jeudi or اليوم or whatever last week. I can tell that I am really enjoying FF as it seems like it has been way longer than two weeks since our last installment, "Believe." I am pretty sure that tomorrow night's episode, "A561984" is the last one for 2009, so I'm expecting a blowout episode with a nice cliffhanger to get us through the holidays. From the preview at the end of "Believe," it seems we'll be getting just that. Here's what I'm looking for tomorrow night:

*What does "A561984" mean? The easy answer is that it is a case file number, like in The West Wing's "7A WF 83429" which was the file number given to Zoey Bartlet's kidnapping (just rewatched the four episode kidnapping sequence -- such awesome stuff. I loved that show! Check it out!). However, the title is screaming for the "1984" to be taken as a year. If you do, and take "56" to be May 6 (in America) or 5 June (pretty much everywhere else), then we're looking at a date of some unknown significance. Is it a charcter's birthday? If so, that person would be 25 years old. Anyone of significance on the show about 25? Tracy or Nicole, I suppose, but the episode doesn't seem to focus on them. Perhaps its the date the blackout technology was created or initially tested? If so, Simon (and probably Lloyd) would have been way too young to be involved then. If I had to bet, I'd say it's just a file number, but I hope I'm wrong and it's something extra-special cool.

*After a nice respite at a rest stop along the highway of the future-seeing mystery that is FlashForward, by all accounts, "A561984" will ramp up the Mosaic investigation by giving us a lot of info on the cause of the blackout. From the preview, we see Lloyd actually following through with his public declaration of responsibility for the blackout. I am still holding tight to my original prediction that Lloyd and Simon's technology is responsible for the blackout, but they were not the ones who caused the blackout to occur. Something tells me that even if Lloyd lays out this point explicitly, the public is not going to take to kindly to it.

*Simon seems, from the preview, to be working with the L.A. FBI and revealing his and Lloyd's part in the blackout. Now, most people tend to believe Simon is a "bad guy," so what is his angle in helping the FBI? Is he trying to cast attention elsewhere in order to protect himself and his group's true intentions? We will hear Simon tell the FBI, "I'll find him." Who is "him?" Suspect Zero? D. Gibbons? The Chess Player (the guy who blew up the doll factory in "White to Play")? I think we did see a flash of someone handling chess pieces in the preview, so maybe the Chess Player is who Simon will be seeking, but why? What cards does Simon have up his sleeve (pun, sadly, intended)?

*Olivia tells Lloyd she will help him, with something. With Dylan? Does Lloyd confide in her that he is "responsible" for the blackout before he tells the public? I think it's more likely the former because why would she want to assist the man responsible for the greatest catastrophy known to man? Oh, and how quickly will Mark run to Olivia to say "I told you so!' once Lloyd goes public? Thirty seconds? A minute?

*We will also see the return of Shohreh Agdashloo tomorrow night. If you remember, she was the one who told Demetri he would be murdered on March 15. The preview had us believe that she will tell Demetri that the one who will murder him is sitting at their table, apparently in Hong Kong. Methinks this will not go down as expected. I didn't see who was also in the restaurant with them besides Mark (Vreede, you there?), and although we do know there is likely a traitor in the FBI, I just think there will be a bigger reveal than the one telegraphed by the preview. But we do get a table flipped over and gunshots in an Asian restuarant, which always reminds me that anything goes (couldn't find the exact clip that didn't have offensive blackface in it, but you know what comes after the song and dance).

I'm preparing myself to be hit with a big, and welcome, download of information tomorrow night regarding the mechanical cause of the blackout (will I also score on my satellite prediciton?). However, the continuing mystery will be why the blackout occurred and who perpetrated it. I would like to see some more Janis tomorrow night, as I thought they were building her character nicely, all to, literally, leave her for dead a few episodes ago and not give her much screen time since. Maybe she'll go to Hong Kong with the boys. I don't expect more than a passing glance of Bryce or Aaron after the last episode; I think we'll be Mosaic-heavy tomorrow night. This, I believe, is a good thing because it is the overarching mystery that will give us the great cliffhangers necessary to steel ourselves for the cold and barren winter.

If you need a refresher on any of FF's episodes, all of my recaps are here. Plus, always rememebr to check out the crackpot theories over at FlashForwardCast with Jay and Jack. If you have any thoughts or theories about tomorrow night's episode, please drop them in the Comments section below. I'll be back this weekend with my thoughts on tomorrow night's episode. Until then...